"The Afterlife" by Gary Soto

Rating: 1

Description: Chuy is only seventeen when he dies, stabbed to death in the bathroom of a nightclub after telling a man he liked his shoes. He drifts up from his body and wanders around Fresno and watches as his mother tries to get his uncle, only a few years older than Chuy himself, to take revenge on his unknown murderer. As his would-be girlfriend, Rachel, and his best friend, Angel, mourn his passing, Chuy's murderer, who he calls Yellow Shoes, shows no remorse at all as he tosses his knife into a dumpster. Then Chuy meets Crystal, another ghost, and teaches her the ropes of getting around in her non-body, falling in love in the process. He saves the life of a homeless man, only to befriend him in soul-form when he dies later anyway. As Chuy slowly disappears into the unknown, he draws some conclusions about life, death, and the afterlife.

Review: This book had an interesting premise, but the originality was quickly overshadowed by the plotless, dreamy quality of the book. Chuy wanders from scene to scene, each of them only loosely connected by his death. No single plot element or character is expanded enough to make the book worthwhile, not even Crystal, Chuy's ghostly love interest. Throughout the whole book, I was waiting for things to start happening. They never did. "The Afterlife"'s original premise unfortunately leads to a boring, unfulfilling book.